Aqua's Story
by ScarlettRose94
Summary: Aqua Hooves (known to most ponies as 'Derpy') feels alone and like a failure of a pegasus until she meets another pony who doesn't quite fit in with the other pegasi.
1. Chapter 1

AN: I renamed Derpy for the sake of this fic, so just remember that for this particular story Aqua=Derpy and we'll be good

Also, I'm not sure how many chapters I'm going to make this but if you want more story, all you have to do is ask. I'm even open to plot suggestions, if you want to get really hands-on. Anywho, enjoy :)

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A young, blond-haired pony walked somewhat apprehensively towards the town hall. She had been asked to clear clouds today, likely due to the fact that so many other pegasi were busy with other preparations for Applejack's big send off, or else had their hooves full with something else entirely. That had to be the reason she was asked, since she was so awful at cloud clearing, flying, and really anything that was supposed to come naturally to a pegasus. As she neared the town hall she spread her grey-feathered wings and took off towards the building's peak.

At first things went well, she had no trouble clearing the wispy white clouds she was faced with, and she relaxed a little, enjoying the warm sun and the feeling of the wind ruffling her fur and feathers. She let her mind and her eyes wander, looking down at all of the unicorns and earth ponies excitedly decorating in celebration of the best rodeo pony in all of ponyville. She watched Rose and Daisy as they decorated the stage with their flower arrangements right up until she smacked face-first into a storm cloud. After righting herself and flying back up towards the cloud, she saw that the impact had sent a bolt of lightning straight into the peak of the town hall, leaving a very noticeable mark that nopony would be too pleased to see, especially today.

She racked her brain, trying to remember the best way to handle these awful storm clouds. What angle was she supposed to go at it from again? How was she supposed to move it? Could she break it up without causing more damage? She had seen other pegasi break these up before, easily in fact, so she flew up above it and decided to give it another shot.

Once again, she bounced right off of it, sending another bolt flying. Before she even had time to wonder what she'd hit this time, she got her answer in the form of an angry pony with a singed rainbow tail flying towards her.

"Careful Derpy. You don't want to do any more damage than you've already done." Rainbow Dash gestured to the small hole in the tower, indicating that she had seen her previous blunder too.

"I'm sorry Rainbow" the flushed pegasus stammered. "I- I just don't know what went wrong". She looked away, too embarrassed to even face Ponyville's unquestioned top flyer. Even her words were embarrassing, of course she knew what went wrong. What went wrong is that a clumsy, scatterbrained, poor excuse for a pegasus was asked to clear clouds and she couldn't even manage that simple task.

"Yeah, it's a mystery". Rainbow rolled her eyes and flew back over to the banner she was hanging. She, of course, could manage all of her tasks with ease, and certainly without breaking anything. The blond pegasus slowly flew over to her, hoping to maybe make amends, and decided a compliment might help.

"Nice work Rainbow Dash" she said as she flew around the banner to admire it. As she flew backwards, eyes darting between the banner and the pony who's favor she was trying to win, she smacked into a beam hard enough to knock it loose and send it crashing down. As she watched Rainbow Dash try unsuccessfully to stop the beam and saw it and her crash through the floorboards of the balcony below all she could do was hover in place, horrified and mortified. She slowly descended and landed on the balcony in front of the newly-created gaping hole.

"You ok Rainbow Dash?" she called downward. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

Rainbow flew straight up out of the hole and hovered right in the thoroughly ashamed pony's face. "No! Nothing! In the name of Celestia, just sit there and do nothing! In fact, why don't you just go down there, plant your hooves firmly on the ground, and stay there for a while? I think the rest of us will be able to get everything done up here without you."

The grey pony sighed. "Sorry Rainbow." She spread her wings and returned to the ground, trotting off with her head down to avoid the eyes of any pony that happened to see her make a fool of herself.


	2. Chapter 2

The ashamed grey pony trotted on towards her favorite place, doing her best to hold back any tears that might blur her vision and slow her down. She trotted down a path that led to a secluded little pond and broke into a full run, diving in once she reached the water's edge. She came up and stayed still for a moment, only treading water enough to keep herself afloat, taking in the feel of the cool water surrounding her body and clinging to her mane. She had loved swimming since she was a filly, it had always been her comfort and her stress release, and it was the one thing she really felt she was good at.

Actually, she was pretty well convinced that she was the fastest swimmer in Ponyville. There was no organized swim team in the area, but she could beat anyone who challenged her to a race. Not that many ponies did, competitive swimming isn't very popular in Ponyville. Certainly not as popular as flying, anyways.

She stayed in the water, swimming laps and practicing different strokes, kicking and pulling herself forward with her powerful legs and using her wings to push herself through the water, almost as if she was flying through it. Eventually she dragged herself out of the water, thoroughly exhausted, and collapsed on the grass. As she laid there, feeling worn-out and just a little cold from the water, she heard hoofsteps coming towards the pond. As she looked up, she could see a pink-maned pegasus coming towards her with several little animals in tow. She was being followed by squirrels and birds and a little white rabbit, and as she got closer all of the nearby ducks and frogs and songbirds seemed to be making their way over to her, as if all of nature was drawn to this one pale-yellow pony. She greeted them the way anypony would greet her friends, and strolled over to sit in the grass by the pond. Or rather, she would have sat, had she not eventually noticed that she wasn't the only pony there.

"Oh, hi" she said, her voice hardly more than a meek whisper. The contented, carefree look she had seen earlier was replaced with an uncomfortable nervousness. At first Aqua thought she might just be acting strange around her because she saw what happened in town earlier, but looking at her as she half-hid herself in her long mane, she decided it was more likely that she was just shy.

Aqua hadn't planned on being very social after what had happened that day, but this pony seemed sweet and unthreatening, even a bit endearing, so she decided to stick around long enough to chat. Assuming the shy little pegasus wanted to talk, that is.

"Hi". She smiled warmly, hoping to make the other pony feel more comfortable. "Beautiful day, isn't it?"

"Oh, yes, it's lovely." She replied from under her mane. Still quite, but friendly.

"Ummm, do you mind if I sit with you?". Aqua stood up and stepped towards the other pegasus.

She brushed her mane slightly out of her face with a hoof and gave a sweet little smile. "OK"

Aqua walked over and sat down next to her. "So... do you come here often?". Wow, that sounded stupid. Like a clichéd, cheesy pick-up line. Nice going, Derpy. "I mean, not a lot of ponies know about this place. It's usually just me here."

"One of my little friends brought me here about a week ago" she said, gesturing to a little hummingbird flying nearby, who, upon seeing the pony's gesturing, flittered down and rested on her hoof. She cuddled the little bird for a moment before letting it fly off again. "It is very quiet, which is nice. Some of the smaller animals get frightened if there are a lot of ponies splashing around."

"Oh, well I hope they don't mind it too much. I kind of splash around here sometimes." Aqua grinned and let out a little nervous laugh. "Actually, I come here a lot to swim."

"That's fine. They don't mind it too much. But if you spend a lot of time here splashing around with your friends I might look for a different pond for them. Some of them are just so much smaller than ponies, and I wouldn't want any of my little friends to get hurt".

Little friends. Aqua grinned a bit at that. "Oh, I don't come here with anyone. I just come here to relax and work out or practice."

"Practice? Are you on a team? I didn't even know Ponyville had a swim team"

"They don't, sadly. I just practice for fun. It's kind of my special talent, ya know?". Aqua gestured to the bubble cutie mark on her flank as she spoke. "I've loved swimming since I was little. My mom used to say I must be part merpony, cause she could never get me out of the water."

The yellow pony giggled at this. Aqua couldn't help but think that her little laugh was endearing. Actually, endearing seemed like the perfect word to describe the little animal caretaker. "You kind of remind me of one of my friends. She's not a swimmer, but she's very athletic. I'll bet you two would get along really well."

She opened her mouth to say something else, but was distracted by the little white rabbit she showed up with, who was now demanding her attention by tugging at her tail. "What is it Angel dear?" The rabbit pointed in the direction they came and rubbed its tummy. "Oh! Goodness, you're right." She turned back to a rather amused Aqua and explained. "I'm sorry, but I need to go home and feed my animals. I really only meant to stop by for a few minutes, and I'm sure they're getting very hungry." The rabbit nodded its head in agreement.

"Ok. So, I'll see you around then? Maybe we can meet here again sometime."

"Sure. I'm sure I'll be back here before too long" she gave a warm little smile and then her eyes widened a bit. "Oh, I never even introduced myself, did I? Goodness, I can be so scatterbrained sometimes. I'm Fluttershy."

"I'm Aqua. Aqua Derpina Hooves, though most ponies just call me Derpy."

"Is- is that what you want me to call you? I mean, whatever you want is fine."

Aqua was a little surprised. Most ponies just went ahead and used her nickname. "I actually kind of like Aqua. Honestly, Derpy's just a name I used as a filly that... stuck a little longer than I thought it would."

"Alright, well I'll see you later Aqua." Fluttershy trotted off, once again being followed by her 'little friends'. Aqua stood up and stretched before going home, with an unexpected grin on her face and a little bounce in her step.

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A.N. - Wow, I actually managed to pay attention to one piece of writing long enough to write two whole chapters *pats self on the back*. Comments/favorites/etc. are _hugely _appreciated, and they kinda sorta make my day :3


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